Copyrights and Creative Commons Whenever someone brings up the topic of music, video or printed texts, the concept of copyright inevitably arises. Fair Use, DRM, Creative Commons, "All Rights Reserved" are all terms which arise throughout the course of these discussions. Many people, including teachers, students and administrators do not have a clear grasp of the legal ramifications of copyrights and the use of items within a school. Since this is such a complicated topic, how can teachers, students and administrators remain legal without spending hours each day making sure the materials they are using is legal? Copyrights are a set of rules designed to protect the rights of the creator of a specific work. These works include all types of intellectual property including art, music, written text, video games, television shows, movies, software, inventions/patents and even architectural designs. When a person purchases a copy of a book, cd, etc, they are given the right to use whatever they purchased for their personal use. The owners of the copy are not allowed to make copies of the purchased work (except for backup purposes) nor are they allowed to publicly show any of the copyrighted materials in public (free or not). These rights seem reasonable for items purchased for personal use. However, the situation does become clouded when we look at it through an educational lens. Materials used for educational purposes are protected by a set of rules which are called "Fair Use". Fair Use is defined as - Fair use states - "the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include —
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
(http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107) The majority of materials used in the classroom will fall under these rules. There are many special rules pertaining to different types of materials. For example, a teacher can record a program off of the tv for their classroom however, they are only allowed to legally use the recording for 10 days. The school is allowed to keep the recording for 40 days before the recording has to be destroyed. However, if the work was protected by a Creative Commons copyright license, the teacher or student would be well within their right to use the material in their classes. Creative Commons is an non-profit organization which was created as a response to today's copyright laws. CC feels that their licenses allow creators to remain as the owner of a work while allowing others to use their work for other projects - personal or otherwise. CC has four basic license conditions which they base their licenses on. They are as follows -
Attribution
Attribution - by
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way you request.
Share Alike
Share Alike - sa
You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.
Noncommercial
Non-Commercial - nc
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for non-commercial purposes only.
No Derivative Works
No Derivative Works - nd
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.
These license conditions are combined to create specific licenses which are offered free of charge to the general public. These are -
image
Attribution cc by
This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered, in terms of what others can do with your works licensed under Attribution. View License Deed | View Legal Code
image
Attribution Share Alike cc by-sa
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. View License Deed | View Legal Code
image
Attribution No Derivatives cc by-nd
This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you. View License Deed | View Legal Code
image
Attribution Non-Commercial cc by-nc
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms. View License Deed | View Legal Code
image
Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike cc by-nc-sa
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute your work just like the by-nc-nd license, but they can also translate, make remixes, and produce new stories based on your work. All new work based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature. View License Deed | View Legal Code
image
Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives cc by-nc-nd
This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, allowing redistribution. This license is often called the “free advertising” license because it allows others to download your works and share them with others as long as they mention you and link back to you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially. View License Deed | View Legal Code
These licenses are offered on several websites to protect the content uploaded by it's users. Flickr, for example, allows it's users to assign a CC license to each of the photo and movies uploaded to its servers. This makes it easier for users to protect their property online while sharing their work, if they choose to, with the world. In any case, as long as educators and their students ensure they are follow copyright laws, they can rest assured they have not broken any laws in the quest for knowledge.
School administrators have an added concern when dealing with licensing for software used on district computers. Software does not fall under the "Fair Use" rules and must be kept under close supervision to ensure the district is not breaking any copyright laws. In most cases DRM (Digital Rights Management) helps to ensure that each computer is properly licensed however, especially when using such registration keys such as Volume License Keys for Windows operating systems and site licenses, care must be taken to ensure that the district is not breaking the agreement which the district entered into when purchasing/installing the software on district computers.
Copyrights and Creative Commons
Whenever someone brings up the topic of music, video or printed texts, the concept of copyright inevitably arises. Fair Use, DRM, Creative Commons, "All Rights Reserved" are all terms which arise throughout the course of these discussions. Many people, including teachers, students and administrators do not have a clear grasp of the legal ramifications of copyrights and the use of items within a school. Since this is such a complicated topic, how can teachers, students and administrators remain legal without spending hours each day making sure the materials they are using is legal?
Copyrights are a set of rules designed to protect the rights of the creator of a specific work. These works include all types of intellectual property including art, music, written text, video games, television shows, movies, software, inventions/patents and even architectural designs. When a person purchases a copy of a book, cd, etc, they are given the right to use whatever they purchased for their personal use. The owners of the copy are not allowed to make copies of the purchased work (except for backup purposes) nor are they allowed to publicly show any of the copyrighted materials in public (free or not). These rights seem reasonable for items purchased for personal use. However, the situation does become clouded when we look at it through an educational lens.
Materials used for educational purposes are protected by a set of rules which are called "Fair Use". Fair Use is defined as - Fair use states - "the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include —
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
(http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107)
The majority of materials used in the classroom will fall under these rules. There are many special rules pertaining to different types of materials. For example, a teacher can record a program off of the tv for their classroom however, they are only allowed to legally use the recording for 10 days. The school is allowed to keep the recording for 40 days before the recording has to be destroyed. However, if the work was protected by a Creative Commons copyright license, the teacher or student would be well within their right to use the material in their classes.
Creative Commons is an non-profit organization which was created as a response to today's copyright laws. CC feels that their licenses allow creators to remain as the owner of a work while allowing others to use their work for other projects - personal or otherwise. CC has four basic license conditions which they base their licenses on. They are as follows -
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way you request.
You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for non-commercial purposes only.
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.
These license conditions are combined to create specific licenses which are offered free of charge to the general public. These are -
Attribution cc by
This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered, in terms of what others can do with your works licensed under Attribution.View License Deed | View Legal Code
Attribution Share Alike cc by-sa
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial reasons, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use.View License Deed | View Legal Code
Attribution No Derivatives cc by-nd
This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.View License Deed | View Legal Code
Attribution Non-Commercial cc by-nc
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.View License Deed | View Legal Code
Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike cc by-nc-sa
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. Others can download and redistribute your work just like the by-nc-nd license, but they can also translate, make remixes, and produce new stories based on your work. All new work based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also be non-commercial in nature.View License Deed | View Legal Code
Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives cc by-nc-nd
This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, allowing redistribution. This license is often called the “free advertising” license because it allows others to download your works and share them with others as long as they mention you and link back to you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.View License Deed | View Legal Code
(http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/)
These licenses are offered on several websites to protect the content uploaded by it's users. Flickr, for example, allows it's users to assign a CC license to each of the photo and movies uploaded to its servers. This makes it easier for users to protect their property online while sharing their work, if they choose to, with the world. In any case, as long as educators and their students ensure they are follow copyright laws, they can rest assured they have not broken any laws in the quest for knowledge.
School administrators have an added concern when dealing with licensing for software used on district computers. Software does not fall under the "Fair Use" rules and must be kept under close supervision to ensure the district is not breaking any copyright laws. In most cases DRM (Digital Rights Management) helps to ensure that each computer is properly licensed however, especially when using such registration keys such as Volume License Keys for Windows operating systems and site licenses, care must be taken to ensure that the district is not breaking the agreement which the district entered into when purchasing/installing the software on district computers.